The Toronto Maple Leafs are no longer the most-hated team in hockey

The Toronto Maple Leafs have one of the biggest fanbases in all of sports. This is seen many times during away games, where there are instances of more Leaf fans in attendance than home-team fans. This is often the case in games hosted by the Buffalo Sabres, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators, to name a few.

The Leafs have long been viewed as the most-hated teams in hockey, if not THE most-hated. Well, not anymore, according to @JFreshHockey on X.

The Maple Leafs rank 24th for most liked teams in the NHL, as 42.2% of fans voted they would cheer for the Maple Leafs in a head-to-head matchup. The Vegas Golden Knights are now the most disliked hockey franchise according to the fans, as the voters only would cheer for the Knights 33.1% of the time in any given matchup.

Fans voted on 34,000 head-to-head matchups, totaling 2,170 votes per NHL team. These results are clearly more than a sample size.

The 2022-23 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche' led the way for most well-liked team, tallying 67.9% of voters to cheer for them in any given head-to-head matchup.

The Source: The Hockey News
Maple Leafs Rank as 24th Most Liked Team in NHL According to Recent Poll